This deck was created to be as punishingly powerful a control deck as possible without resorting to broken cards or instant kill combos. In other words, make it harsh, but make it fair. Barely. It only runs a few ways to exploit Merieke's ability, but given the number of sweepers in the deck, swarms of creatures don't present much of a problem anyway. Merieke is there to deal with aggressive general-focused strategies like Omnath and Azusa. The intent is to steal their general and then just hold on, preventing them from leveraging it into an early-game advantage. The gameplan is to ramp, sweep the board clean, empty opponents' hands, and then drop a game-ending finisher like Desolation Angel, Iona, or Magister Sphinx.
Weaknesses I'm aware of: The manabase can be fragile, and concentrated land and artifact destruction (or a Decimate) can put the deck far back on its heels. The paucity of counterspells also makes it vulnerable to prison/combo strategies like Hokori and Jhoira, although timely discard can make those matchups much easier.
Recent updates: Finally got my hands on a Kor Haven and Academy Ruins, so in they go. Also realized I didn't have Condemn, so slipped that in along with an Arcanis the Omnipotent to draw insane amounts of cards with my untapping engines. I put Keiga in there on a lark, but I should probably take her out for either a Gilded Drake or something along a different axis of evil.
Cards with * next to their name are foils and/or full art.
If you aren't even going to try and use Merieke's ability, you should probably change your general to something that you will actually use (like Dromar or Sen Triplets or even something generic like Chromium). That being said, I would totally try to stick a couple good Merieke cards in your list.
Anywho, onto more specific card choices:
- Mind Twist: It only affects one person, and it's difficult to get repeated use out of it.
- Foresee: This is a classic example of a card that is good in other formats, but not so much in this one. If you were drafting M11, Foresee would be awesome. But, you are not drafting, you are playing EDH. Therefore, you have access to much more potent and CONSISTANT draw spells. Fact or Fiction and Recurring Insight are the best instant-speed draw spells. Even better still are permanents like Rhystic Study and Phyrexian Arena.
- Ancestral Vision: I don't know why people think this card is good in EDH. Having to wait FOUR turns to draw your cards is unacceptable. Just play something else that doesn't force you to wait for your cards.
- Braingeyser: The fact that it's a sorcery makes me feel like you can do better.
- Counterspell: BORRRRING. Unless you have an Isochron Scepter package, you're better off with something like Dissipate or Faerie Trickery.
- Brainstorm: This isn't Legacy. In EDH, Brainstorm is pretty bad. Get a Top and you can Brainstorm every turn instead of just once.
- Guul Draz Assassin: Even if you manage to level this guy up before it gets killed, -4/-4 is not going to matter against Titans and Eldrazi and Elder Dragons that are bound to come after you.
- Enclave Cryptologist: A 0/1 body is too fragile to invest all that mana and wait all that time to start drawing cards.
- Trinket Mage: This is a great card, but you need more Trinkets to fetch. A Top is the bare minimum, along with the three artifact lands from Mirrodin. There are a lot of other good ones to consider as well: Expedition Map, Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, Spellbombs, Capsules (from Shards), and many others.
- Sphinx Summoner: You have a total of 2 things to dig up with this guy, which isn't enough to run him.
- Malakir Bloodwitch: This isn't Standard, and you have no other Vampires. Even if you did, this guy wouldn't be good enough.
- Baneslayer Angel: Eh, if you see a lot of Dragons then it could be decent. My guess is that it's probably better in a Standard deck.
- Obelisk of Esper: You can buy a strictly better Darksteel Ingot for a quarter.
- Borderposts: They just aren't necessary.
Another thing I noticed: how do you plan on recurring your Mind Twist/Identity Crisis/Myojin? You can't reasonably expect to use them all once and be done with it, so you really should have at least a little recursion.
As for Merieke, the deck actually used to be a Sen Triplets deck, but I found myself rarely using them, (and often getting them immediately hated off the board). They have an awesome ability, but mid- and late-game is not the deck's weakpoint, and the triplets didn't do much once I dumped an opponent's hand. I should put a 1000 year elixir and a crab umbra in at the very least to give her a bit more legs in the late game.
As for Sphinx Summoner, he does dig up two very powerful cards - Magister Sphinx can open up an opponent to an immediate alpha strike, and Ethersworn Adjudicator, who dominates the board once active. I used to have a Memnarch in there as well, but he was a huge, huge hate generator that got me killed more often than not. Do you have another good target in mind?
Weaknesses I'm aware of: The manabase can be fragile, and concentrated land and artifact destruction (or a Decimate) can put the deck far back on its heels. The paucity of counterspells also makes it vulnerable to prison/combo strategies like Hokori and Jhoira, although timely discard can make those matchups much easier.
Recent updates: Finally got my hands on a Kor Haven and Academy Ruins, so in they go. Also realized I didn't have Condemn, so slipped that in along with an Arcanis the Omnipotent to draw insane amounts of cards with my untapping engines. I put Keiga in there on a lark, but I should probably take her out for either a Gilded Drake or something along a different axis of evil.
Cards with * next to their name are foils and/or full art.
2 All is Dust
3 Austere Command
5 Cabal Conditioning
7* Day of Judgement
8 Demonic Tutor
9 Final Judgement
10 Hallowed Burial
12 Mind Twist
13 Promise of Power
Instants
15* Clutch of the Undercity
16* Condemn
17* Cryptic Command
18 Dismantling Blow
19 Evacuation
20 Fact or Fiction
22* Mystical Teachings
23 Mystical Tutor
24 Pact of Negation
26 Return to Dust
27 Swords to Plowshares
Enchantments
28 Debtors’ Knell
30 Phyrexian Arena
31 Rhystic Study
Planeswalkers
32 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Creatures
36 Arcanis the Omnipotent
37 Desolation Angel
38 Ethersworn Adjudicator
39 Iona, Shield of Emeria
40 Keiga, the Tide Star
41 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
43* Mnemonic Wall
44* Mulldrifter
45 Myojin of Night’s Reach
Artifacts
51 Azorius Signet
53* Crystal Shard
54 Darksteel Ingot
56* Everflowing Chalice
57 Gilded Lotus
58 Pithing Needle
60 Sensei's Divining Top
Land
63 Academy Ruins
65 Adarkar Wastes
66 Azorius Chancery
68 Caves of Koilos
70 Creeping Tar Pit
71 Darkslick Shores
74 Fetid Heath
75 Ghost Quarter
76 Glacial Fortress
77 Godless Shrine
78 Hallowed Fountain
79 Kor Haven
80 Marsh Flats
81 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
82 Mystic Gate
83 Mystifying Maze
84 Reflecting Pool
85 Reliquary Tower
86 Scalding Tarn
87 Scrubland
88 Seachrome Coast
89 Sunken Ruins
91 Temple of the False God
93 Underground River
Questions, comments, suggestions?
Anywho, onto more specific card choices:
- Mind Twist: It only affects one person, and it's difficult to get repeated use out of it.
- Foresee: This is a classic example of a card that is good in other formats, but not so much in this one. If you were drafting M11, Foresee would be awesome. But, you are not drafting, you are playing EDH. Therefore, you have access to much more potent and CONSISTANT draw spells. Fact or Fiction and Recurring Insight are the best instant-speed draw spells. Even better still are permanents like Rhystic Study and Phyrexian Arena.
- Ancestral Vision: I don't know why people think this card is good in EDH. Having to wait FOUR turns to draw your cards is unacceptable. Just play something else that doesn't force you to wait for your cards.
- Braingeyser: The fact that it's a sorcery makes me feel like you can do better.
- Counterspell: BORRRRING. Unless you have an Isochron Scepter package, you're better off with something like Dissipate or Faerie Trickery.
- Brainstorm: This isn't Legacy. In EDH, Brainstorm is pretty bad. Get a Top and you can Brainstorm every turn instead of just once.
- Guul Draz Assassin: Even if you manage to level this guy up before it gets killed, -4/-4 is not going to matter against Titans and Eldrazi and Elder Dragons that are bound to come after you.
- Enclave Cryptologist: A 0/1 body is too fragile to invest all that mana and wait all that time to start drawing cards.
- Trinket Mage: This is a great card, but you need more Trinkets to fetch. A Top is the bare minimum, along with the three artifact lands from Mirrodin. There are a lot of other good ones to consider as well: Expedition Map, Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, Spellbombs, Capsules (from Shards), and many others.
- Sphinx Summoner: You have a total of 2 things to dig up with this guy, which isn't enough to run him.
- Malakir Bloodwitch: This isn't Standard, and you have no other Vampires. Even if you did, this guy wouldn't be good enough.
- Baneslayer Angel: Eh, if you see a lot of Dragons then it could be decent. My guess is that it's probably better in a Standard deck.
- Obelisk of Esper: You can buy a strictly better Darksteel Ingot for a quarter.
- Borderposts: They just aren't necessary.
Another thing I noticed: how do you plan on recurring your Mind Twist/Identity Crisis/Myojin? You can't reasonably expect to use them all once and be done with it, so you really should have at least a little recursion.
Yeva (88/92 foils)
Raff
Scarab
Rakdos
Wort ($50 budget, 94/97 foils)
Trostani
As for Merieke, the deck actually used to be a Sen Triplets deck, but I found myself rarely using them, (and often getting them immediately hated off the board). They have an awesome ability, but mid- and late-game is not the deck's weakpoint, and the triplets didn't do much once I dumped an opponent's hand. I should put a 1000 year elixir and a crab umbra in at the very least to give her a bit more legs in the late game.
Stuff I'll Add:
+ Sensei's Divining Top
+ Relic of Progenitus
+ Dissipate
+ Phyrexian Arena
+ Darksteel Ingot
+ Crystal Shard
+ Capsize
+ Cabal Conditioning
+ Syphon Mind
+ Thousand-Year Elixir
+ Crab Umbra
+ Mystic Gate
+ Sunken Ruins
+ Minamo, School at Water's Edge
+ Bojuka Bog
As for Sphinx Summoner, he does dig up two very powerful cards - Magister Sphinx can open up an opponent to an immediate alpha strike, and Ethersworn Adjudicator, who dominates the board once active. I used to have a Memnarch in there as well, but he was a huge, huge hate generator that got me killed more often than not. Do you have another good target in mind?
Stuff I'll Take Out
- Enclave Cryptologist
- Guul Draz Assassin
- Malakir Bloodwitch
- Martial Coup
- Brainstorm
- Mind Twist
- Ancestral Vision
- Braingeyser
- Foresee
- Counterspell
- Obelisk of Esper
- Fieldmist Borderpost
- Mistvein Borderpost
- Island
- Swamp